Sea Level Rise in South Florida

According to Strauss who has  written about sea level rise, "Florida is in the crosshairs of climate change. Rising seas, a population crowded along the coast, porous bedrock, and the relatively common occurrence of tropical storms put more real estate and people at risk from storm surges aggravated by sea level rise in Florida, than any other state by far - See more at: http://sealevel.climatecentral.org/news/floria-and-the-rising-sea#sthash.wNYclQmf.dpuf "

If you are wondering about the specific neighborhoods you live in and how far the water will rise-- there is an interactive map that can be found on Climate Central's webpage that can predict how vulnerable your neighborhood is. They state that "more than half the population of more than 100 Florida towns and cities lives on land below that 4-foot line. Miami-Dade and Broward counties each have more people below 4 feet than any state, except Florida itself and Louisiana".

Their analysis included many factors such as sea level rise projections, storm surge patterns, local topography and even patterns of development.

You can access the interactive map here. 

map image from  http://sealevel.climatecentral.org/

Reference: Strauss.,n.d. Florida and the rising sea. Online. Available at:  http://sealevel.climatecentral.org/news/floria-and-the-rising-sea

Keep informed on the Florida Everglades

The following is shared from an email update from the  South Florida Wildlands Association and is re-posted here. It is meant to inform readers of the constant struggle to keep the Florida Everglades healthy and protected. To learn more about this local organization- follow them on Facebook. 

South Florida Wildlands Association

P.O. Box 30211
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 33303

In the years since South Florida Wildlands has been working to protect wildlife and habitat in the Greater Everglades, we have never faced a combination of issues that have such capacity to destroy and degrade this unique landscape.  Folks who live in South Florida and follow local media are aware that a company (Kanter Real Estate LLC) has just applied for a permit to drill for oil and dig limestone mines on 20,000 acres of Everglades it owns in Broward County.  Stories below from CBS 4, the Sun-Sentinel and Miami-Herald provide maps and lots of background (including sound bites from South Florida Wildlands) on this breaking story:

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2015/07/13/company-wants-exploratory-oil-well-west-of-miramar/

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/article27014374.html

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-broward-oil-drilling-20150710-story.html

Town hall meetings and further action alerts are coming soon on this brand new issue (though very similar to a battle we and our allies fought - and won - over oil drilling in the Western Everglades).

http://www.local10.com/news/south-florida-environmentalists-stop-oil-drilling-plans/26942746

But that's not all.  We recently learned that Florida and Power and Light (FPL) is still intent on developing 3,000 acres of primary Florida panther habitat they bought just north of the Big Cypress National Preserve and Seminole Reservation for the purpose of building the largest gas-fired electrical generating plant in the nation.  Having lost a lawsuit with the Seminole Tribe of Florida over agricultural zoning on the property, FPL is now asking Hendry County to create a new land use type (Electrical Generating Facility) and move the property into that new classification.

The FPL property is surrounded by public lands that were acquired at tremendous cost and effort (e.g. the Big Cypress National Preserve, Dinner Island Wildlife Management Area, Okaloacoochee Slough State Forest) and contain some of the most important contiguous upland habitat for Florida panthers, black bears, and other wildlife in South Florida.  For years, the entire property had been expected to be protected by a Florida Forever land protection project called "Panther Glades."  Unfortunately, funds were never available to complete that purchase prior to FPL buying the land for their own purposes.  From the standpoint of our stressed out wildlife in South Florida, FPL could not have chosen a worse location for their new power plant if they had tried.  Article from the Clewiston News explains more about what FPL is trying get the Hendry County Commission to do for them:

http://florida.newszap.com/clewiston/139732-113/florida-power-and-light-asks-hendry-county-to-change-its-comprehensive-plan

Earlier story on the proposed power plant and its expected impacts on wildlife is here:

http://www.scrippsmedia.com/fox4now/news/134352173.html

Description of Panther Glades is here:

http://www.dep.state.fl.us/lands/FFAnnual/Panther_Glades.pdf

But wait - there's more.  In the Big Cypress National Preserve, another company (Burnett Oil Company of Ft. Worth, Texas) is applying for a permit to conduct seismic testing for oil across 110 square miles (70,000 acres) in the heart of the preserve.  The intent is to locate oil deposits before opening up the Big Cypress to additional oil drilling.  A federal comment period is open until the middle of August.  For those wondering how this can take place inside a national preserve - most of the below ground oil rights are owned by a company named Collier Resources while the National Park Service controls only the surface.  Collier Resources has leased some of these rights to Burnett Oil for the purpose of the seismic survey.  Another news story from the Sun-Sentinel summarizes this project - which would take place on some of the most sensitive and biodiverse wetlands in Florida:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-big-cypress-oil-20150617-story.html

Finally, FPL continues to pursue their plans to construct two new nuclear reactors at Turkey Point on the shores of Biscayne Bay - next to some of the lowest lying land in South Florida (expected to be inundated with only a 6 inch rise in sea level) and right next door to Biscayne National Park.  We also expect a final decision this summer from the National Park Service on the request to turn over the eastern side of Everglades National Park to FPL for the purpose of constructing three massive power lines from Turkey Point to points north.  An article from the Broward and Palm Beach NewTimes explains how we reached this strange point - in spite of  congress having told the National Park Service years ago to buy out all land necessary to protect the lifeblood of fresh water into Everglades National Park:

http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/news/will-fpl-run-power-lines-through-the-everglades-6353489

If you're exhausted reading this email - imagine how we felt writing it.  Yes - we also wish the regulatory system worked differently and efficiently to fully protect rare and dwindling natural resources.  And that many of the folks involved in pushing these projects forward had a different set of priorities.  But these fights will take place under the current conditions and are not going away.  This email is meant as a heads up on what's happening in the Everglades - and what's coming  Some people call it "America's Everglades."  It is.  But the Everglades is also one of the most unique habitats on our planet.  It deserves far better treatment than it's getting.  Please share this email and this information far and wide.

Artists for Climate Action

There is a group of  creatives that have a new facebook group --their mission is tackling climate issues in South Florida. An excerpt from their page reads "Artists for Climate Action is a place for artists interested in bringing their artistic skills and creativity into action to address the effects of climate change. We welcome artists from anywhere who wish to share how they are taking action on climate change with their art. Emphasis in the discussion will be on how Florida resident artists can effectively collaborate with new and ongoing activist climate campaigns in Florida. Posts on forms and aesthetics of activist art group members find particularly effective or useful to consider are also welcome, whether or not they are directly related to climate change." Please honor this purpose when you post. Feel free to publicize this page on your own page, and please actively contact any Florida artists you believe will be interested in art engaged with climate action".

[https://www.facebook.com/groups/751890081595539/ ]

Anyone interested can check them out by following the link above. 

Save Energy

Conservation terms that describe species

Keystone Species:

A keystone species plays a crucial role in the functions of a healthy ecosystem. Without them, the system would be drastically altered or even cease to exist. The contributions of a keystone species are large and doesn’t always match the species’ prevalence in the habitat.

If a keystone species disappears; a domino effect begins to happen and other species that rely on that keystone, would change. One example would be if a large predator is removed from a system where deer lived;  deer populations could explode. The ecosystem cannot support that many animals. Competition for food and other resources would result among the deer themselves; their populations would decline and overall fitness levels would lower in the herds.

You can read an article published on Huff Post that discusses this issue further by clicking this link.

Foundation Species

Foundation species have major role in maintaining or even creating a habitat that supports other species. A great example of this would be corals. Corals produce the reef structures that countless species live and depend on.

Umbrella Species

An umbrella species is very similar to a keystone species. Many umbrella species are migratory and their daily activities help shape and maintain a balance to the ecosystem. By protecting an umbrella species, you are automatically protecting a number of other species who rely on that particular species.

Indicator Species

An indicator species is very sensitive to environmental changes in its ecosystem. By monitoring these species, conservationist can get early warning signs of habitat changes. External influences from changes in air, water or climate present themselves to these indicator species first.

Reference: National Geographic

Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_elephant#/media/File:African_Bush_Elephant.jpg

Understanding infectious diseases

Understanding how infections and diseases spread can be very challenging. Here are some terms that can help. (Medecinenet.com)

Infection: The invasion and multiplication of microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, and parasites that are not normally present within the body. An infection may cause no symptoms and be subclinical, or it may cause symptoms and be clinically apparent. An infection may remain localized, or it may spread through the blood or lymphatic vessels to become systemic (bodywide). Microorganisms that live naturally in the body are not considered infections. For example, bacteria that normally live within the mouth and intestine are not infections.

Pathogen: An agent of disease. For example, Bacillus anthracis is the pathogen that causes anthrax.

Host- 1. The organism from which a parasite obtains its nutrition and/or shelter.

         2. An organism or cell culture in which a virus can replicate itself.

Reservoir of infection: Any person, animal, plant, soil or substance in which an infectious agent normally lives and multiplies. The reservoir typically harbors the infectious agent without injury to itself and serves as a source from which other individuals can be infected. The infectious agent primarily depends on the reservoir for its survival. It is from the reservoir that the infectious substance is transmitted to a human or another susceptible host.

Zoonosis: An infection that is known in nature to infect both humans and lower vertebrate animals.

Many infectious agents have the ability to infect more than one host species, making it very difficult to track. 62% of all human pathogens are classified as zoonoses. The pathogens that infect livestock are 77% zoonotic. Fifty seven of the seventy animal diseases that are considered to be of greatest importance infect multiple hosts. These multi-host pathogens are hard to control and it is important to understand the term reservoir of infection. 

Often, emerging human or wildlife diseases are assumed to be maintained in a reservoir host; but are rarely defined. The control efforts are often directed toward “Suspected reservoir populations”.  Reservoirs that harbor Ebola are still unknown, making it difficult to eradicate the disease (Hayden, et. al, 2002).

If you are interested in this topic; you can read further by looking at this article:

Haydon, D., et. al., 2002. Identifying Reservoirs of Infection: A Conceptual and Practical Challenge. Emerging Infectious Disease. Vol 8(12). 1468-1473.

Students can also search on Searchwise to find similar articles.

Swamp day

The honors field biology class had a swamp day filled with canoes, alligators, mosquitoes and a brief overview of the natural history of the Grassy Waters Nature Preserve in West Palm Beach , FL.

The class took canoes to a small island in the middle of the preserve and got out and went mucking in the mud to learn new things about what makes up the Everglades.

Here are some pics of the students having a great time!